Thank you to everyone who participated in last week’s trivia question!

Last Week’s Question:
Which president once handled state tax cases, securing favorable rulings for taxpayers involving property taxes and local gross receipts taxes?

The Answer:
Abraham Lincoln represented taxpayers in various Illinois tax matters, including the Illinois Central Railroad Company in many of its property tax disputes. Most notably, Lincoln secured a favorable ruling from the Illinois Supreme Court, which upheld the legislature’s tax exemption to the Illinois Central Railroad Company for county property taxes. See Illinois Cent. R. Co. v. McLean Cty., 17 Ill. 291 (1855); see also State v. Illinois Cent. R. Co., 27 Ill. 64 (1861) (involving property tax valuation issue with Lincoln as counsel for railroad).

Lincoln later stated that he believed the county property tax case “was worth half a million dollars” to the railroad company. Abraham Lincoln, Speech at Carthage, Illinois (Oct. 22, 1858).

Keep an eye out for our next trivia question on Wednesday!